From Democracy Now!: Kenya has begun three days of mourning for at least 67 people killed in the siege of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. The death count could still rise if more bodies are found in the rubble of the mall’s three floors. The Somali militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it retaliation for Kenyan military intervention in Somalia. We’re joined by independent journalist Jeremy Scahill, who reported from both Kenya and Somalia for his recent book and film, “Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield.” Scahill says the Bush […]

The Israeli government has ordered textbook publishers to remove any content that relates to human reproduction and contraception if it is to be viewed by students under the age of 15. Such material “does not fit in with the educational outlook for junior high school students in the state religious system”, said a statement from the education ministry. It had requested “targeted adjustments” to ensure that textbooks “include texts and reading materials in the spirit of the state religious education system”. Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israeli Religious Action Centre, which advocates progressive Judaism, […]

The four-page letter, addressing the 16-year-old education advocate in English, was signed by the militant Adnan Rashid, a former Pakistani Air Force officer who took part in an attempt to assassinate Gen. Pervez Musharraf a decade ago and escaped from prison last year, in the biggest jailbreak in Pakistani history. Letter From Taliban Commander Adnan Rasheed to Malala Yousafzai “A senior Taliban commander blamed Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the militant group last year, for provoking the attack by “smearing” the Islamists, according to a copy of a letter he […]

Protesters in Bangladesh have demanded a new blasphemy law that would the death penalty for any blogger who insults Islam. Supporters of Hefazat-e-Islam, an Islamist group which draws support from tens of thousands of religious seminaries, converged on Dhaka’s main commercial hub to protest against what they said were blasphemous writings by atheist bloggers, shouting “God is great – hang the atheist bloggers”. “I’ve come here to fight for Islam. We won’t allow any bloggers to blaspheme our religion and our beloved Prophet Mohammed,” said Shahidul Islam, an imam at a mosque outside Dhaka who […]